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I was reading an electric bike article in one of the print mags, and it occured to me that the technology ramp-up issues of today might be very similar to what autos went through when they first started rolling.

You probably could have made a really good argument then that a horse and buggy were a much better choice. The cars were unreliable, gas was hard to get, and the roads weren't set up for cars. A horse just needs a stall, hay, a pasture, and the occasional shoe. Hell, they can even make freebies if you have 2! Why would anyone buy a car?

In time I am sure that electric bikes will offer everything gas bikes have now in terms of range, performance, and cost. Even the battery disposal issues will be resolved; in the article one entrant in the Electric TT had a battery that was completely biodegradable, and gave nearly the power of the Li-Pos. The question is when, not if.

I was reading an electric bike article in one of the print mags, and it occured to me that the technology ramp-up issues of today might be very similar to what autos went through when they first started rolling.

You probably could have made a really good argument then that a horse and buggy were a much better choice. The cars were unreliable, gas was hard to get, and the roads weren't set up for cars. A horse just needs a stall, hay, a pasture, and the occasional shoe. Hell, they can even make freebies if you have 2! Why would anyone buy a car?

In time I am sure that electric bikes will offer everything gas bikes have now in terms of range, performance, and cost. Even the battery disposal issues will be resolved; in the article one entrant in the Electric TT had a battery that was completely biodegradable, and gave nearly the power of the Li-Pos. The question is when, not if.

Most of those thing you mention about the advances of early cars aren't things mandated by laws of physics. Electrical energy storage in chemical batteries is. There isn't any fantastic new chemical battery on the horizon that will allow super quick charging times. Until we can store energy quickly and as easily as we can with the internal combustion engines electric vehicles will continue to be expensive oddities. Unless of course laws are passed to force people to use low range/slow turnaround electric cars limited to dense urban environments. As such they may become a useful alternative eventually.

Don't think that I'm against electric cars. Far from it. However there appears to be a tendency to believe that things will happen technologically because we want them to. It that were true Mr Fusion would be a reality today and we would no longer have any coal-fired power plants. Note that California tried this technology forcing game and had to give up on their electric car mandates several years ago.

Also, the internal combustion engine very quickly showed that it was a superior alternative to horse/ox power. Electric cars are inferior to gas powered cars in every measure. Even vastly improved electric cars won't be more convenient and efficient than gasoline powered one. There's little there to encourage people to switch.

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"Make no mistake, Communism lost a big argument - one we know today as the 20th century."

Most of those thing you mention about the advances of early cars aren't things mandated by laws of physics. Electrical energy storage in chemical batteries is. There isn't any fantastic new chemical battery on the horizon that will allow super quick charging times.

In the 1920's the "laws of physics" said a self-sustaining nuclear reaction was impossible. In the 1930's the Encyclopedia said uranium was a "worthless dull-gray metal." In the 1940's...kaboom.

In 1994 an IBM physicist came to the company I worked for and gave a detailed lecture on how the transmittal of wave forms on shielded twisted pair wire at a speed above 4 megabits per second was impossible. The "laws of physics" said the energy from the transmission would simply blow past the shielding and create disasterous EMI. He had endless charts and graphs to back him up. Then we took him to an abandoned part of the building where we were running IBM Token-Ring adapters (designed to run on IBM's heavy duty "Type 1" cable) at 16 mbps on shielded twisted pair, using a $20 media filters on either end.

In the 1920's the "laws of physics" said a self-sustaining nuclear reaction was impossible. In the 1930's the Encyclopedia said uranium was a "worthless dull-gray metal." In the 1940's...kaboom.

In 1994 an IBM physicist came to the company I worked for and gave a detailed lecture on how the transmittal of wave forms on shielded twisted pair wire at a speed above 4 megabits per second was impossible. The "laws of physics" said the energy from the transmission would simply blow past the shielding and create disasterous EMI. He had endless charts and graphs to back him up. Then we took him to an abandoned part of the building where we were running IBM Token-Ring adapters (designed to run on IBM's heavy duty "Type 1" cable) at 16 mbps using a $20 media filter on either end.

All those people you describe sound like the clowns that made up Global Warming. Just think of the idiot that had all those charts and graphs and wrote a real keen book too! They even gave him a Noble Prize for his BS. Look how many suckers actually believed him. Seruzawa hit it on the nut. Unless we have a MAJOR breakthrough in electrical storage, electric cars will suck. Maybe that day will come, but I bet it will be long after we are all taking a dirt nap. 10 grand for a mountain bike with an electric motor? No thanks.

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